CloseRegistration Open for Powder Coating Week 2022
Comments Off on Registration Open for Powder Coating Week 2022The Powder Coatings Institute’s Powder Coating Week 2022 returns to the Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld in Orlando, FL, from March 7 -9. The event will again be comprised of three separate programs that offer the perfect combination of training, keynote presentations, technical sessions, tabletop exhibits, roundtable discussions, expert panels, and social activities. Three days packed with all things powder coating. Powder Coating Week 2022 is the best opportunity for everyone involved in powder coating to expand their knowledge and connect with others.
The schedule for the week has been condensed and allows Workshop and Custom Coater Forum attendees to visit the Tabletop Exhibition on the first evening. The week begins with PCI’s Powder Coating 101 Workshop on Monday, March 7, and Tuesday, March 8. The Custom Coater Forum will take place on Monday, March 7 as a one-day program. The Powder Coating Technical Conference begins with breakfast and an advanced general session on Tuesday, March 8, and continues with keynote speakers and breakout sessions through Wednesday, March 9. The Tabletop Exhibition will be open Monday evening and during Tuesday’s lunch and evening reception to allow attendees from all three events a chance to visit with exhibitors. A strong closing session on Wednesday morning features Adam Genei from Mobsteel, Detroit Steel Wheel Co. Attendees won’t want to miss Adam’s dynamic and important presentation about our workforce.
Battle for CARC Powder Coating
Comments Off on Battle for CARC Powder CoatingOne of Beth Ann Pearson’s tasks as national product line manager for military coatings at Sherwin-Williams’ Product Finishes Division may be the most daunting of her career.
The company was awarded a $1.4 million research grant by the Department of Defense in June 2012 to develop a zero-volatile organic compound (VOC), zero-hazardous air pollutant (HAP) exterior topcoat to replace the military’s current generation of liquid-applied chemical agent resistant coatings (CARCs) by 2015.
“It’s a very challenging project,” says Pearson, a chemist by training who joined Sherwin-Williams in 2010 with almost two decades of experience in the coatings industry.
It’s also an extremely important project for the U.S. military as it seeks to protect service personnel from chemical attacks, as well as a game-changer for the U.S. powder coating industry.
Moving to Powder
“We are extremely interested in utilizing powder coating for a CARC application,” says Adam Goldstein, vice president of Consolidated Coating in Bellingham, Mass., which specializes in coating a variety of plastic and metal substrates, including military components. “Our company is constantly looking for innovation and new technologies that will simultaneously reduce our VOC emissions, while also increasing our production efficiency. A move to a powder coat CARC would fit both of these categories.”
Pearson’s research team knows that it must match coating durability with safety of troops.
“Far and above everything else, the most important asset that we need to protect is that of our armed forces personnel in the field of battle,” Pearson says. “We—as is the entire coatings industry—are being challenged to consistently improve CARC coatings capabilities.”
Military regulations require all tactical equipment, including ground support equipment, tactical wheeled vehicles and aircraft, to be hardened against the effects of both chemical warfare agents, and degradation caused by the cleaning and decontamination procedures necessary in the aftermath of a chemical attack. These regulations also are followed by the Marine Corps and apply to Air Force vehicles and equipment procured through the Army.
There currently are no commercially available powder coatings that meet the military’s specification MIL-PRF-32348 for powder coating using the camouflage CARC systems, Type III, Class I & II.
With the U.S. EPA breathing down its back, the DoD is under the gun to get more environmentally friendly coatings into its system. Current liquid-applied CARC topcoats supplied by coatings vendors emit about 5.2 million lbs per year of VOCs and HAPs.
The agency turned to Sherwin-Williams, which has lowered VOC emissions in commercialized water-dispersible CARC topcoats from 3.5 lb/gal in solvent-borne CARC to 1.8 lb/gal in water-dispersible CARC. The company also was the first to release a zero-VOC epoxy primer qualified to the MIL-DTL-53022 Type IV specification.
Read more: Battle for CARC Powder Coating